One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant chicory is to check out the USDA zone info for Santa Fe.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

Frost tolerance for chicory:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Chicory can survive in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Santa Fe is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chicory and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chicory may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your chicory indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Santa Fe. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Fe is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Fe last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your chicory if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Fe

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Fe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Fe.